New Recipe Index

Friday, January 21, 2011

This is not a recipe for someone who is weight conscious. Fattening cookie ahead!! Warning!!! Do not proceed if you are on a diet.

I haven't been baking pineapple tarts for 5 years. This year I came out from pineapple tart hibernation. It's not because I was sick of it, but I don't like making the same cookies each year. Last year, I didn't make any cookies at all, besides frying arrowhead chips. And this year I didn't fry any, and won't be planning to fry any. There're lots of other things to eat besides cookies and how much can one's stomach take in. Kekekeke. I'd save the space for good stuff, like prawns, abalone, bla bla bla bla bla......

I’ve seen this recipe many many years ago, during my early years of blogging. I saw it on many blogs then, but not now. Never seen it since 2006. Many of those blogs who tried this recipe are no longer active. And those who tried this recipe all found it lip smacking delicious, one even wanted to spank the recipe source, Josh. Hahaha. I've been KIVing this recipe for so so long, and I finally tried it out this year.

When I looked at the recipe, gosh: Butter, Cream Cheese, Whipping cream, egg yolks. How can this recipe not be soft and melty? And I read through the forum where this recipe was posted. I anticipated a soft sticky dough that will be hard to manage. I’ve never made enclosed versions before, so this is my maiden attempt.

When I mixed the dough, it was indeed very very soft. Looks like a cake batter, but a thicker one. So I quickly turned on all the airconds in my living room. With a lower room temperature, the dough will be easier to shape. That was my assumption.

See, it’s like cake batter, but it’s not sticky. Tested before the air-cond was on.

After I prepared the dough, I let the dough sit. It helps to make it more manageable rather than shaping it straightaway. During this time, I rolled my homemade pineapple jam. They are rolled into tiny balls, as big as a 10 sen, about 1cm diameter only. The amount of jam I made was slightly more for this amount of dough. The extra can be used for spreading on bread or other bakes. Keep them chilled while you prepare the dough balls. Cold jam helps with the wrapping process. They are more "solid" when cold.

Then I made balls of dough, double the size of the jam.

And I wrapped them up. Quite slow in the beginning, but picked up pace as I got the hang of it.

See my wrapped up tarts? Roll them round and nice.

After that I preheated the oven at 160(fan)/180C and made marks on my cookies. Brushed with egg yolk and baked them for 20 minutes. The recipe says 15 minutes, but I find they look nicer with 20 minutes. If I baked them at 180C in my convection oven, it takes 15 mins, yeah, but the colour is not that even, top is browner. So, I prefer to go lower and longer for a nicer finish.

These were baked at 160(fan) C for 20mins, whereas those in first pic were baked at 180C for 15 mins.

Notes to take note:

1. Wrap with clean hands. If your hands touch the jam too much, it’ll cause ur fingers to be sticky, and the wrapping process will be sticky. Wash it from time to time, or just try to keep one hand dirty with jam, not both hands.

2. Do not handle the dough too long. Wrap it as quick as u can.
3. You can push the dough to wrap around the jam, no need to roll it big and huge before you wrap. It’s soft enough to be pushed around the jam. More trapped air means high chances of cracked tarts.

4. Turn the air conditioning on. It helps. I just put it at 25C. Just make sure the room is not too hot, as in above 30C. I didn't even put the dough into the fridge halfway shaping.

Oh yeah, the ingredients, kekeke. Here’s the list of it and method to prepare the dough.

1. Cream butter, sugar and cream cheese together.
2. When it comes together, pour in cream and whip on medium speed (I used speed 2 on my hand mixer) for 10 minutes. Scrape the sides from time to time. It may look lumpy, don’t worry, later it’ll turn all creamy.
3. Beat in egg yolks for 1 minute.
4. Sift both flours and pour half of it into buttery mixture. Mix on low speed until it comes together and pour in the remaining flour and beat until it comes together. Do not over mix.
5. Let dough sit for 10 minutes minimum before you start wrapping your jam with it. Method, please scroll up :p

Verdict:
Gosh, this got to be the best enclosed tart ever. This is my maiden attempt in making enclosed tarts, but I've eaten lots of enclosed tarts and handled lots of different doughs before. Compared to cornstarch laden enclosed tarts, this is a clear winner. It’s not very fragile. It doesn’t crumble in your hands that easily compared to cornstarch or custard powder ones, but the way it melts in your mouth and not in your hands is truly delicious. I’ve eaten tarts fresh from the oven, and usually they are slightly crispy, and one needs to wait one or 2 days for it to turn soft and crumbly. Not this one. It’s melty the moment it’s out from the oven, melty but not fragile. I could just easily arrange them in the containers. It's due to the liquid cream added, the "fat" emulsion helped the dough to be more sturdy but yet remain soft and flaky. Better in terms of handling (very slightly elastic when raw, this helps with the wrapping and sturdy when baked) compared to recipes that uses loads and loads of butter. And the cream cheese added a beautiful dimension to the taste and texture. Lyanne even shook one container but they stayed complete, not broken nor shattered. Just bits of crumbs stuck to the side of the container, but remained whole and no one will notice if you clean the container later. My mom after tasting one piece demanded that I make more of this. Hahahaha. That is a command from Mommy dearest, my biggest fan.

This will the recipe that I will stick to the rest of my life, if I'm making enclosed tarts. There's no need to search for another when I've already found the best.

The real size is about 30% smaller than those in these 2 pictures

Lyanne shook these, see they're still whole!! But the egg glaze was "traumatized" by her shaking.

This post cannot display anymore comments, due to my template's restriction.
May I suggest that you read through all the comments as I might have answered the same questions before.

FAQ:
1. How long will the cookie last: I kept it few weeks before.
2. How come the base is flattened or distorted : Jam too moist
3. Dairy whipping cream can be found at the same aisle with fresh milk and cheese and it's not the spray type. Fat content 35%. Non dairy cream is not recommended
4. Sometimes our weighing equipment could be a bit off, or the weather is too humid and the dough turns a little stickier than seen in the picture. You can add a bit extra flour, but it should not exceed 2 Tbsp. Just add until you can touch it with a clean finger and comes off clean.

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lovely notes:

Cream cheese & Whipping Cream! Decadent! I'm bookmarking this recipe for sure. Thanks for sharing. Am thinking, since these tarts have cream cheese & cream, they must be stored in refrigerator, right? Will they keep well in room temperature?

awesome, cream cheese n cream...pure indulgent!the dough seems tacky to handle. question, do you think i can mould this pastry in those smallish tart mould? hmmm this recipe using caster sugar rather than icing sugar and any hint of cream cheese taste? if this tarts can withstand yer Lyanne's infamous shake, then this is sure winner. honestly, we dun need those plastic bottle staining moment...dislike the sight of it! again awesome Wendy n_n

i remember when i was kid, my mom will make pineapple jam every year for hari raya and we make flower pineapple tarts, enclosed pineapple tarts and rolled pineapple tarts. that was fun and we love it so much!!

Nice! With lots lots lots of filling! I always dread doing the eggwash... I wonder if we could just throw the balls into a bowl of eggwash and fish them out with a slotted spoon. This way, get it all entirely coated too. Haha. Maybe I will try...

I'm definitely making these! I made the pineapple jam you posted, and it was a lot easier than I feared! How long can the cookies last? Can I bake them the weekend before CNY and they well still be okay?

Jess Bakericious,Aiyor, one week only ma. Next time, dun want to let u see preview first, kekeke.

Lisa.L,You mean those tart cutters? You have to chill it very thoroughly in order to roll and cut.Because the sugar will be melted in the long creaming process, caster sugar will work fine. Recipes that uses icing sugar usually involves light creaming or rub in. There was a bit of stain, but I changed containers, but not that bad compared to those of other recipes.Since cream cheese's flavour has always been mild, it is not detectable here, but the texture, it really makes the texture different. Just like my killer scones that uses cream cheese as well.

keratosis,Haha, I think after this pineapple tart, I might not be posting any next year as I have other plans for CNY 2012.

NEL,I actually brushed more than what you saw here on the tarts, but the egg wash just seem to shrink. I read the recipe again, and Josh actually did double egg wash, the 2nd time was after baking and he threw them into the oven for another 5 minutes. I use a mopit to do the work, it's a lot easier than a silicon brush.

Anna,Gosh, I hate this question, hahaha.Where are u from? That will determine how I answer you, haha.What do you mean by can it last? Turn mouldy? Or?? As long as you keep it well, in a clean container, don't touch it too much, don't sneeze or cough over it, it should last a few weeks.I've already baked mine last week, and I expect them to be served during CNY.

oh no, not those tart-cutter. those super mini egg tart mould like 3/4" - 1" in diameter. last year i bake my pineapple tarts with moulds and came out looking like sunflower(yeah)...beautiful but that was using the normal pastry. so judging from the look of your pics, i was wondering whether i can do this style using egg tart style, use thumbs to push all the way up. oh the killer scones, i know i baked it before n still raving bout it. i had the worst experience few days ago at Coffee Bean, had their cranberry scones set...gosh small for RM4.90n dry n too crumble! next day, perusing the same recipe by replacing it with currants, i have the best breakfast, lunch n tea time ever...thx to you. this year resolution, bake my own scones!

this looks amazing! woah! Have to try it the next time! Is there a problem, when I have to add salt to the butter extra? I can't find salted butter around here... (and how many salt should I add?) Thanks for sharing!

Wendy...you are so hardworking..i still haven started making yet. Thanks for sharing your melt in the mouth tarts. I am looking still looking for the crunchy pastry crust type...you know the classic one :)

Hi Wendy. Thank you so much for being so generous and sharing your experiences and recipes! It's great that are so many people like you who are willing to share. :)

I've been looking for the perfect melt-in-the-mouth open tart recipe and I hope this is the one!

So far I've tried 2 recipes (little teochew and auntyyochana) and although really delicious, not the one I'm looking for. I saw Jas's take on these tarts (http://jasnette.blogspot.com/2006/01/joshuas-gan55-2005-version-pineapple.html) and see that she used the same pastry to make open tarts. Going to try them soon. *fingers crossed*

Elin,Hmmm... I think if you want the crust to be crunchy, first of all, the jam must be dry enough, if not no matter how, it'll turn soft later. There is one reader who found Aunty YOchana's recipe to be crunchy, hope that is the one.

katCL,Yaya, she was one of those who tried out the recipe. You have to chill it very thoroughly before rolling and cutting.

I never try a recipe with cream cheese and cream before. I am bookmarking this to try it out next year. We both have the opposite problem when making tarts. The air here is so dry and cold and I have problem with hard dough and you with warm and humid air have problem with soft dough :)

It looks so yummy, additional cream cheese in the pastry will sure make it more tasty. I normally also add cheddar cheese in my pineapple pastry. Wendy, I would like to check with you, how you made the glazing so obviously appeared. Mine always look pale.

first time i'm seeing cream cheese being used to make the pastry..i definately have to keep your pineapple jam and this posts of yours for future use. One must slowly eat and take time to enjoy these pineapple tarts, from the mouth to the throat to the stomach..so much effort and time involved in making them, phew!

I tried this recipe in 2009 and I agree with you that the pastry and the taste is somehow unique, very different from the "usual" pineapple tart but it's hard to tell what is the difference (what I am trying to say :P).

However, this is not as well received as other recipes that I had tried. May be my recipients have different expectation (taste buds). Personally I quite like this but the cost of this tart is as high as its calories, haha!

DG,Haha, I think you asked me the same about chiffon cake too. I've always found your bakes pale, maybe it's due to your oven.

Jes's, Thanks

lena,true, so slow to make, so quick to eat

sweetylicious,Hmm.... the tartnes of the pineapple seems to mellow the butteriness of the tart. It's quite rich, I dunno how to answer you on this as what I find as fragrant might be yucks for you. I'm a super dairy fan.

Cuisine ParadiseThanks

Jeannie,It taste crumbly in the mouth.

Cook.bake.love,I think one must be dairy lover to enjoy this tart. Taste is pretty much a personal preference, especially when it comes to pineapple tarts. So many versions around and I hope you'll find your perfect recipe.CNY is a time for indulgence, ahahaha, $ wise and calorie wise, kekeke, once a year ma!

I am so going to make this! Looks like a super delicious version, thanks for this! But looking at the ingredients, I think it's best made for own and close family consumption...too expensive to mass produce, hahaha!

I did it. First time doing pineapple tart !!!! Successful yayayyayaya ...so happy.. i skip one part which is i bought the ready make pineapple jam. so nice the texture. my children just enjoy it so much. pls dun stop the cookies making. i still want to enjoy to bake with your recipe...

Jo,Hahaha, I can sense your elation when I read this. So glad you liked the texture.I am not stopping, but as you can see, I don't make cookies often on my blog. And with cookies overload during CNY, there is no point to bake or even post any near future. Maybe in a few months time, I'll bake some, but not in these 3 months, definately.

Arghhhhhhhhh! I was NOT going to make any pineapple cookies this year! Although I'm still on Mat Leave it's hard finding time to do baking when the little man wants so much of my attention now! Waaaah! I went and bought a pineapple today in Tesco! I think it's reading your informative post on pineapples then seeing these beautiful little cookies that has done it!I was going to make peanut cookies - I may need to scrap that idea now I have pineapple on the menu!

Hi!I made this last night and it's very delicious. Truly light and melt in the mouth! I shaped this in 2 designs - pineapple and tangerine. This year, including my open tarts I have 3 pineapple tarts! Thanks so much for this great recipe!

Hi Wendy,I've tried the recipe for the dough and it was perfect. My hubby said that it was the best pineapple tarts he had eaten, even better than my mum's :PBut for the pineapple jam, I've halved the amount of sugar as we don't like our jam too sweet. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the mould will stay away until after we've finished all the tarts, which shouldn't be long :P

Carine,Mango? How to cook the jam and make it last?So far, I haven't grown to like cooked mango stuff. They taste weird to me.

Sheryl,Like I said, it all depends on the pineapple use, the size, the ripeness, the variety. If you used ripe smaller ones, that amount of sugar will send ur throat into "roadblock".Glad ur hubby liked this. Looks like a hassle to make, but once you get the hang of the dough, it's very easy to handle.

Wendy, I must say I am a big admirer of your cooking. Gosh...CNY is around the corner, I gave this recipe a try. I made the jam as per say, but my tart was as big as 50 cents.....hahahaha...no kungfu yet.

With the success of your pineapple paste, I thought I'd give this a try since you're so confident of this recipe. The ingredients had me intrigued. I tried it today and the result was unfortunately not as good :(

1. The dough looks like yours but it's definitely very sticky and quite difficult to handle.2. After it's baked, the shape was distorted and basically looked very ugly. Somehow it reminded me of a meringue.

I don't know what went wrong cos I followed and weighed each ingredient very carefully.

However, the pastry is indeed very light and weightless and good for people who prefers that. (Although in actual fact, it is a very sinful tart even though you don't feel that when you're eating it.)

Agnes,If the tart was distorted after baking, then I know what went wrong. Your jam was too wet. I did one batch with a moister jam, and my tarts looked irregular. When the tart bakes, the jam softens and falls.I've never said the dough was easy to handle, but you need patience with it. Give it lots of time to sit and make sure your hands are clean.

Hi WendyI tried your recipe for pineapple tart today and tarts turned out delicious. Indeed, the pastry was difficult to handle. Compared to the one posted in Jan's Kitchen which uses 430g plain flour plus addition 50g milk powder ((no cornflour), yours definately tastes better.Since I don't stock cake flour, I made my own for this recipe. And I used Nestle UHT cream since I did not have whip cream in the fridge.I will use your closed tart recipe in future and I will use whipping cream next time.Thanks Wendy, your detailed steps and instructions for this pineapple tart are very infomative and precise. Thank you for taking the trouble to post pics on the making precedures which are extremely helpful to me in avoiding mistakes.Perhaps, next time, I will pipe out the tarts in rose pattern since pastry was soft and impossible to use pineapple tart cutter to form shape. Again, Wendy, thank you for your unselfish sharings of all your recipes in this blog. I've learnt alot from you and still learning.Really enjoy visiting your blog.BlessingsPriscilla Poh

Priscilla,Thankyou very much for the feedback.I'm glad you enjoyed reading my blog and found these tarts to be delicious.I think this dough is suitable for nastar style tarts too, if I didn't misinterpret rose pattern.Hope to see you around more often :)

Thank you for your response. What I meant by rose pattern is I will pipe out the soft pastry in circular form thru a nozzle and put the pineapple jam in the centre just like those from Oi Lin Piped Butter Cookies featured in her blog - Asianbake.

Oop Wendy is me again. I forgot to ask you, can I use icing sugar since I will be piping the pastry in the next time I made the pineapple tarts? And how much icing sugar in place of the 75gm castor sugar in your recipe. As you already know, using icing sugar will help keep the pastry pattern in shape during baking.

Just use the same amount of icing sugar as it's also sugar with only 5% of cornstarch. That 5% will not be prominent here. But I've never knew that icing sugar will help keeping the pastry pattern during baking, what I know is that,the piped pastry must be cold so that it retains its shape during baking.

Hi Wendy,I'm half Chinese (Hokkien) from Penang who now lives in Spain. I want to try these delicious looking tarts but we dont have cake flour here. People here use plain flour with baking powder or bicarbonate of soda to make their cakes. What should I do. Please help.

Hi Wendy, Thanks for the prompt reply. All we have here is plain wheat flour. Thats all purpòse flour I think. I'll try with 20% cornflour, if thats what you mean. Will inform you within the next 2-3 days. By the way couldn't we keep in touch? E-mail or something? It would be a pleasure. If you wish irene.biesinger@hotmail.com

Hi Wendy, i just tried the recipe and its my first time baking pineapple tarts... the pineapple texture was good just that it was a tad sour. Not too worried as i can easily add sugar the next round

However the crust didn't have the nice buttery scent and wasn't as melt in the mouth as expected. Want to ask you is it because of the cream cheese being used which is why it doesn't taste and smell buttery enough?

JJ,Sour? This is the first time hearing this, Most of my readers asked me whether they could reduce the sugar, LOL. The crust is not crumbly nor it like so melty like kuih bangkit, because there is only very little starch in this recipe. If you are comparing this recipe to full butter and cornstarch laden recipes, the texture of this pineapple tart is definitely not the same. The fat in this recipe does not only come from butter, but from egg yolk, cream and cheese. It's not a full butter recipe.It should be fragrantly dairy (I won't say buttery), and melty (but not crumbly like eating starchy cookies)

Hi Wendy,Baked the tarts with whipping cream... all praises from those who ate them. Some wanted to place orders... hahaha.

Made more jams but forgot to put the cinnamon. The jam lacked flavour. Not being happy with the no-cinnamon pineapple jam, I actually made new jam and add in the old jam. It worked. Now I have plenty of good-flavoured jam. Have you tried cloves in the jam? Wonder how the flavour will be.

Will bake more of the tarts for others to enjoy. Not for sale. Too precious when it is baked with love!

Jennifer,Frankly, I have never encountered pineapple tarts with salted egg yolks. Never seen one, never ate one. It's up to you, add or not.

YL,Oh yes, without the cinnamon, something really feels lacking. I have never tried with cloves, but let me know how it turns out if you've tried it with cloves. I'm going to do these tarts again this year and I'm so thankful for your feedback. Glad ur "eaters" enjoyed them a lot.

ahkiang,Roll like a ball? no filling? If you're not going to fill it, it's fine.But if you plan to fill the "ball" then when it's too cold, you won't be able to maneuver the dough around the filling nicely.

Hi - I have never seen this recipe till I stumble your blog which, boy, glad I did! I usually make vegetarian pineapple tart cos my mum is vegetarian, but I will certainly try out your recipe... I like the way you sound like a real food critic (in a positive way, of course)!!!

rafemama,I don't think it would affect much.The creaming in step 1 is to ensure the cream cheese is well homogenized with the rest of the ingredients as cream cheese can be nasty to incorporate later.

Nitya,I think no. Mascarpone is much lighter could make the "dough" way too soft to be handled.

AL,I've seen one blogger using this to make open faced tarts, but I think it has to be very well chilled. This pastry should be suitable to be piped as well, like the nastar.But I, personally have never tried either.

Love your blog.. been reading it almost everyday for a year now. I tried my first recipe from this site over the weekend. (I tried making pineapple tart). The last time I had pineapple tart was about 5 years ago when a friend of a friend brought some back from Singapore. Never had them since so I tried and... failed.. Kinda.. I still ate them cause they weren't bad. I tried to convert everything to cups since I'm here in the US. The tarts tasted ok but there was way to much flour... and I know I did my conversions wrong (about 4 cups of cake flour). Any how the pineapple jam was a very successful. I had no idea what josepine or morris pineapples are and I tried to find them. I just used what ever pineapple I found at the store but I picked the greenist one. Success! Thank you for all your recipes. I will definitely try some more and happy new year.

Nancy,400gm should be around 3.5 cups.BTW, I never believe that even if you are in US you can't weigh it just like how the rest of the world does. You can just buy a scale. I do not stay in US, but I do use cups as well, but not for baking cakes. Cups can never be as precise as weighing.Try again next time, and I do hope you'll get a weighing scale.

Anonymous,Sorry. I have never heard of fan bake. Did you mean fan-grill?

Fan forced-150C, conventional bake-170C. Either one will do. Depends on which you like.The proper name for top-bottom heat is conventional.Convection is another term for fan-forced. you may bump into this term in other parts of my blog.

Thank you for sharing the receipe. The pastry really melts in the mouth. However i find the pastry too soft to handle. I am residing in Singapore and i am not sure if it is due to the weather. I cannot even roll it into 'pillow' shape and have any print on it because it is too soft. The colour was very pale even the glazing was too light. How did you manage to get the nice golden colour? Mine was just too pale looking. I tried baking longer but it became tough.

Thanks for your prompt reply. I shall try fan-forced. Actually on my oven, there's fan bake & fan-grill. I never use those functions. Normally I just use the 'bake' function.

I just realized I need cake flour for this recipe. And I haven't got that at this point of time. I read your advice on 80% all purpose and 20% cornflour. Does that mean 320g all purpose and 80 g cornflour plus the extra 30g corn starch?

I've tried your pineapple cookies...taste very delicious...however, I'm a bit disappointed with the outlook..it collapsed and didn't stay as round as before they went into the oven. Could you advise what has possibly gone wrong? Thanks.

Anonymous (4.09)I don't think singapore's weather and Malaysia is any different, although it could be really humid over there at times. It is very soft. If you want it to be pillow shaped,t hen you must shape you jam like a pillow first, then wrap the dough around it. This way, it will form a pillow. It will only take on the shape of your jam.Colour wise, some butter are more yellow, some are lighter. I'm using SCS sometimes egg yolks comes in different hues too.I hope you leave a name.

anonymous (4.21)then just use the "bake" function, if you are most familiar with it.Yup, that composition of flours will be right.Please leave me a name.

I've tried another batch today...but using the recooked jam...I believe it's not as moist as yesterday...but it still collapsed...I'm starting to wonder if I use the right cream. I use the pure cream. But in the supermarket, I also saw thickened cream. Is there any difference?

I forget to mention that after adding my cream, the butter mixture turn a bit liquid at the bottom and I need to beat the mixture for nearly 10mins...I don't think it's the dough problem but I'm certain that the jam is not moist this time...

Jaynelle,Actually the author of this recipe just used the canned Nestle cream, whereas I used whipping cream. Thickened cream should be fine, as Australian brands use the term "thickened" for whipping cream with stabilizers added in. Actually whipping cream from other countries have stabilizers in them, but they just go by the term whipping cream.In the instructions, it is stated that after adding the cream you have to beat it for 10 minutes, and the state it will look like is also stated.If you are most certain that your jam is not moist, then, your balls of tart could be too warm before they are baked. I hope you used cold jam and the room is not too hot.But then again, how moist ur jam is I have no idea, but believe me, I had flat tarts too, once and that was when my jam was moister than it should be.

Thanks for your advice. This year is my first attempt with the pineapple tarts. I was really delightful when I've made the jam and eventhough the tarts look flat and not really presentable, the taste is good. I really hope to improve this area , but since tomorrow is CNY's eve plus I have two big containers of not so presentable pineapple tarts, I think I shall leave it for a meantime. I still have some leftover jam in the fridge, so I can practise making these tarts again ( eventhough I lose the confidence)...haha Actually, I was pretty confident that today's batch will be successful as I managed to roll the jams into balls compared to the 1st batch, I could hardly roll the jams. I believe you'll understand my feelings...Anyway, I appreciate your reply and wish you & your family Happy Chinese New Year!!

Jaynelle,I understand, it's actually hard to gauge how moist the jam is, but now you know the condition of you jam is still too moist, even though it's rollable compared to last time.My flatter-than-normal tart's jam were rollable too.Hmm, how to say. It should be very firm(not hard) when cold, but firm at room temp. If it's easily disfigured then it's too soft, even though it's rollable. And there should not be any moisture squishing out when you roll.Anyway, for your current jam, roll them out, still yes. But leave them out in the fridge, uncovered and let it dry out for 2 days. Then try again, your tarts should look nicer when the jam is drier.

I'm a beginer & needed your advice. I was delighted when i saw your receipe and tried it at home, but everytime I bake, my cookies melt into funny shapes. Do you know why? Was it because of oven temperature or used wrong butter? Please help T_T

Oh my! I've just try this pineapple tart last night....seriously the crust, really melt in my mouth, but as mention it is really hard to shape it..(ac on, hands clean time to time) and still, I need to learn mastering the technic, any secret Wendy?. Mine, taste was great hehehe but the rupa very fugly lol!I'll definitely do it again soon... Thank you again for sharing this lovely recipe!

Hi Wendy, have been saving this recepeeee for long long time, finally made it last week...its really yummy... I and my little one finished the whole batch within days ...(hahaha i know is evil but i couldnt resist it) once i pickup one then my evil will say "one more" and more kekeekeke.....

but I have one problem, my tart turn out not round as I made, the shape change while baking. how should i put it hmmmm...it just like a pear shape (the closest I can describe) which I suspect that I whisks too long (step 2 abt 20-25mins). is that true ?

anyway thank you for sharing this bravo tart ... will try again next time for sure :)

You have a wonderful recipe. Does the baking tray matter? Because my pineapple balls melt alot during baking and almost 1/2 flooded the whole tray with buttery oil. After it bakes, it changed it shape becoming more flatten rather than ball shapes.

Btw, how do i glaze, using brush. I found mine is not as even and hard to glaze.

Anonymous (pls leave a name)I'm sorry to hear about your cookies. For baking cookies it's always best to use a shallow tray, those that are 1 inch tall only. Tall trays does not circulate heat well. The sides ones may get heated up but not enough heat to get cooked quick enough, and so, they melted. Those that melted were from the sides?I used a chinese calligraphy brush. I buy a new one each year for CNY cookies making and discard it after that.

Hi WendyI made the pineapple tarts(enclosed version) yesterday but I forgot to add in the 30gr corn flour.It was difficult to wrap but with clean hands I succeeded to finish all.My mum said it was nice, me too and the second day still nice. The skin of the tarts do not turn soft like the one I used to make. Will try again next time.I am very satisfied with your recipe.THANK YOU VERY MUCH for sharing. What is the different taste of your pineapple tarts using enclosed version and tangerine version?I read the recipe only different in using flour. Enclosed version uses cake flour and tangerine version uses plain flour.

Mei Ping,Were ur clean hands dry? If you stick a clove into each of the tarts, they become tangerine tarts. It's just the 'look' that it becomes tangerine. There are tons of recipes out there, and it is not denoted by the type of ingredients used, but the form it takes on.

Ker Ryn Lim,35% fat whipping cream.Turning the air cond on during wrapping helps prevent the dough from seeping oil. Plus makes it slightly firmer, and easier to handle. If your climate is not hot at this moment, it's ok not to use the aircond. After shaping, it's best that you don't touch it too much to prevent losing the nice round shape. You will need a lot of fridge space to keep the whole tray of shaped cookies in.

Yes, my tray is 1 inch height. Just wonder is it i overmix the dough. Because when i did the wrapping, I can see the rest of the resting dough is filled up with oil. Or is it because is not kept in the fridge?

Teddybear,Few reasons, butter too warm, jam too moist.If your jam was firm enough, you can even make mooncake size.I suspect the ingredients were too warm because you could handle them by hand. I made these with a Philips handmixer that cost me less than RM70.

Michael,IMPO, nope u can't.If you want to omit the cream cheese, you need a replacement. If not, the whole dough will be too dry. What do you plan to substitute with, that is less fattening than cream cheese?

Hi Wendy... Thanks for the great recipe... Tried it today n they turn out so good.... I find the filling a little sweet though... Maybe cos I couldn't find the type of pineapple u mentioned... Used another type... Thanks

Hi WendyI have tried the 2nd time but dough not as soft as my first time. First time i nv put in the fridge. Butter too warm so when i bake, all the oil seeped out. 2nd time i put in the fridge, dough not as soft. Is it becos i put in the fridge more than 10 mins?

Hi! I decided to give baking pineapple tarts a try and I came across your receipt. I thought it look different and potentially yummy so I tried it. INDEED! Just that my dough was really difficult to handle, almost impossible to roll them into a ball. Took me a few batch to get the hang of it. But although the tarts look distorted and rather ugly, they taste good! Look the texture of it in the mouth!

Hi I tried your recipe today and it tastes great! I have a question. How do you maintain the round shapes after they are in the oven? I rolled them into balls but when they were in the oven, they became soft and started to look distorted. I ended up with a dome shape top with very flat bottom.

HI again, I read that you mentioned if environment is too warm, the dough turns sticky and shape will not retain...but I live in a snowy winter country. It was snowing when I was doing the tarts, I even opened the window to allow cold air to enter (like what you advise as switching on aircon). the dough turned stiffer but it only started to change shape while it was in the oven. We don't have cake flour here so I can only use normal plain flour. Could that be the reason?

I tried your recipe today and they just taste fabulous! The only thing is the dough was a bit soft to handle, so I ended up with not even shapes.Can I leave the dough and jam in the fridge for awhile before I wrap and shape them? From: Liew (Ipoh)

JennD,If it distorts during baking, the jam is too moist.That is the only reason.

Liew,Keep the jam balls fridge cold, it makes life a lot easier. I take some out and keep the rest chilled as I work.The dough is ok for me, because I turn on the airconds. If it's too solid, it's hard to get the jams easily covered, but always take note that work with gentle hands

I just tried this recipe and it was my first time making pineapple tarts, so I tried a smaller batch by making one pineapple's worth of jam and one egg yolk worth of dough. Had no problem with the jam, and it was quite firm and solid when they were rolled into balls. They were very sticky though, so that was a little troublesome.

The dough on the other hand, I kind of panicked when I was mixing in the whipping cream. For the first 1.5 minutes or so, it sort of came together and started to look like a cream. But the next minute, as I kept beating, there was liquid that came out and it looked like it was separating into curdles and liquid. As I beat more, more liquid came out. So I quickly stopped and added the egg yolk and flour. I had only a total beating time of about 2-3 minutes. But the resulting dough looked sufficiently like the dough in your pictures so I just went ahead and continued to make the tarts. However, does that mean that I've overmixed the dough? What should the dough look like after mixing in the whipping cream and then after mixing in the egg?

The tarts came out looking OK, other than slightly flattened out at the bottom. Also, when rolling the balls, the dough wasn't as elastic as you described in your post, but easy enough to handle. But the taste wasn't as full and fragrant as I expected from the dough, so I'm not sure if I've done something horribly wrong. Please advise. Thanks =D

I came across your recipe while searching online and tried baking the tarts yesterday. My tarts turned out gorgeous (no distortion), and a nice tasty golden colour. And like your reviews, the tarts keep their shape very well after baking. However, the pastry is a little dry and hard (but quite tasty still). Not too sure what went wrong as I had followed the proportions in the recipe closely using weighing scale and baked at 180C for 20 mins. I had baked for 15 mins but the colour was pale and looked uncooked. So left it in the oven for additional 5 mins.

Xiaozhi,Yeah, it sort of turns lumpy, but just whack it on, it'll be fine.After 10 minutes of beating the butter cream mixture, it looks like buttercream.It's not very elastic, just some elasticity, slightly, as all dough with cream cheese will have this property. You can push the wrap the dough without it breaking. It's not as buttery as the other doughs because it's not full butter you see.

Hi Wendy,I tried ur tart pastry recipe last night w store-bought pineapple jam. texture was good but like many others, the tarts didnt keep its round shape after baking. As you had mentioned, the jam could be too moist. Any idea what i can do to make the jam less moist?Jas

I tried yr receipe (1st time making pineapple tarts). The taste is good :) The only thg is I find the pastry quite 'loose' - i.e. i can't bite half and see the inside cos the pastry will crumble. Any idea why is that so? Thanks. Grace.

Sorry I forgot to add that I had substituted cake flour for plain flour. The end result was not 'melt-in-your mouth', but rather more like milk/butter biscuit. Not sure if this could the reason? Or could it be if the dough is over-mixed the texture would turn out more biscuit-ish?

Hey I love this recipe and I've already made twice. But the last pineapple jam I made I realised its not sweet enough, can I put it back onto the pan and cook it again with more sugar? I've already put the jam in the fridge though.

I would like to THANK YOU very much for sharing this recipe. I am from SG and happened to chance upon your blog. It was my FIRST EVER ATTEMPT to create pineapple tarts/ balls and I am SO AMAZED by the outcome!

I followed closely to your recipe and I indeed got melt in the mouth pineapple balls! It was delicious and I am considering to make more for my family and friends.

I never regret following your recipe instead of others I found online (whose dough are much more simpler to make).

thank for ur ans. N i just finish cooking finish my pineapple jam, But i add too much lemon juice in it! Because i afraid the pineapple too sweet'( when i buy it'it was half rape but now all rape!)So how? can u pls help me:'(

Juli,Do not add sugar when the jam is done, it may disrupt the other sugar crystals. I can only advise you to cook a thick sugar syrup that has been simmering for 30 minutes and add to it. But still that is a risk, the best is cook another pineapple and combine.

Xiao Chen,Glad to hear of your success

thinkingmama,Just put them in a container and bring them over. Any container with a lid will do, if not, just cover with clingwrap to avoid dust.

Carrollim,The only way I can think to add sweetness to the sour jam is by adding a thick sugar syrup to it, that has been boiled for at least 30 minutes. NExt time, taste as you go.

I feel so hungry after reading this post. Thanks for posting this recipe. I'm so excited to try this tomorrow! Btw, I have one question. Can I substitute cream cheese with yogurt? My mum substitutes cream cheese with yogurt when she makes cheese cake and it turns out fine.

Michelle,Superfine is interchangeable with cake flour.I have never used Rose flour before to bake anything, so, no comments about that

Anonymous (Feb4 6.15pm)Most fruit stalls will have it. Market or mini markets. It is not known to the sellers as Morris, but 'usual pineapple', cos it's the most common one around and the cheapest

Anonymous (Feb5)Glad to hear that

Janice,No I didn't chill my dough as I did it, as it might turn too hard.Always bake with room temp cream cheese and butter around 19-23C, not too soft, cool but can be dented with fingers. Applicable to most recipes, unless stated otherwise

PL,It is soft like how u see it. Be gentle and you won't regret it. REfer the comment just above this for butter and cheese

Amber,Not for this. Cheesecake is set with eggs,but using yogurt here will make the dough extra sticky

Hi, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe! Thank you so much. But I don't have a kitchen scale and I normally use volume measurements. Sometimes the pastry turns out a little too dry and cracks when I try to shape it. Is it ok to add more butter at the last stage? Would that help?

Thanks Wendy for sharing.I made some alterations, added a bit of vanilla essence to the dough and since I did not have corn starch I increased the amount of flour.It turned out great but wish I had the corn starch for a smooth melt in the mouth factor.But I liked the way it turned out to be.My pineapple jam I don't blend it, my grandma used to prick the pineapple with a fork and scrape the flesh out of the pineapple which gives you a nice texture for the jam (personnel preference). Old age wisdom they did not have blenders those days.Was wondering about the cream cheese and 35% cream (whipping cream) but your recipe works.That's all it matters.Overall this recipe is for keeps I don't have to search no more:)

Hi Wendy,I noticed that u do your blog and share your receipes with exquisite details which makes trying them could be a pleasure instead of frustrating efforts in search of good cooking.I hope u'll do well in whatever u are doing. Thank u for sharing. Kak Maria, Rawang, Selangor.

Hi WendyI'm Bea. THANK YOU so much for sharing your tarts recipe. Tried it and it was awesome for my first attempt ..though the sizes vary and kind of out of shape. May I know how long can I keep the tarts before it grows fungus. Because I understand that dairy products e.g. cream cheese & whipping cream do not allow us to keep it long.